Picture this: Your plane lands. You collect your baggage and walk bleary-eyed to the car rental counter, groaning as you see the line that snakes around the corner. When you finally make it to the front, you make dreaded small talk with the counter agent while they tap away on a keyboard until, finally, you have keys in hand, and trudge out to your vehicle.

Or how about this.

Your plane lands, and you turn your iPhone on. You open up the Avis Now app while the plane taxis, and with a few swipes you have a car reserved before the pilot turns off the fasten seat belt sign. You walk directly to the lot, locate your vehicle, and unlock it using your phone. You cackle as you pull out of the lot, leaving dozens of less savvy travelers in your dust.

This is .

Avis’s new mobile app puts customers in the driver’s seat – literally and figuratively—to control every detail of their rental through their smart phones using cutting-edge technology. Book, pickup, and return, all without ever waiting in a line.

Features

In short, you book, confirm, cancel, and even extend a rental all with a few swipes of the iPhone screen. But that’s just the beginning.

It’s not an exaggeration to say that some of the features in the Avis Now app are going to shake up the car rental industry: they beat everyone to the punch in synching with connected vehicles so that they can be locked and unlocked via the Avis Now app, which is my personal favorite feature. You can even flash the headlights to help find the car if you’re lost.

Once the car is located, you can take it or leave it. If you’ve spontaneously decided to upgrade to an SUV or feel passionately about matching your ride to your snazzy outfit (it happens), swipe and choose a replacement in real time from a view of all vehicles available in the lot at that moment.

Curious to see how it all works? Check out this highlighting the app’s key features.

Price

The Avis Now app is free — you just need to sign up for an Avis Preferred account to use it, which is also free. Avis Preferred is the Company’s express rental/loyalty program, so you’ll also earn points with each booking which can be redeemed for rental upgrades and optional add-ons.

Room for Improvement

My only complaint? I want to use it even more!

Avis Now was just released in July, and with over 5,000 Avis rental locations in more than 165 countries, it isn’t yet available at all Avis locations – but it is becoming more widely available all the time. Avis Now can currently be used at more than 60 locations across the United States, and gradually will become available in other countries as well. When you’re searching locations in the app, just look for those designated “Avis Preferred,” and you’re good to go.

Conclusion

I just booked my first road trip using Avis Now, which you’ll hear more about later this month. It was insanely easy and intuitive, and I can’t wait to geek out over unlocking my car with my iPhone! I’m confident I’ll be on the road faster and easier than I ever have been before.

Avis claims this app was “co-created with customers,” and it shows. I feel like while I was sleeping an app developer snuck into my room, scanned my brain, took every frustration I’ve had with a car rental since I first got my license, and found some way to solve it.

In the last year I’ve had a lot of car rental issues that were such hassles and are now made obsolete by the development of this app. Want your rental a few more days? No phone call necessary – just swipe to extend. Don’t like the car you were assigned? No need to wait in line – just swipe for another one.

In the past I have always hesitated to really be loyal to a single car rental agencies and really just gone wherever the best price pointed me. Because frankly? There wasn’t a point of differentiation great enough not to. Now? I kinda think there is.

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Download Avis Now on your Android here and on your iPhone . I was compensated for my time in reviewing this app.

This looks pretty cool. I wish I could have the hours back that I spent in car rental offices…. or waiting outside of them… or the surprise charges… or the guys trying to sell me extra insurance… Will definitely try this.

I once rented a car for a week to go to Ottawa. It broke down on the side of the Trans-canada hwy and i had to wait an hour for them to bring me a replacement. I was hoping they would offer a discount seeing as they gave me a car that BROKE DOWN but when I returned it, they actually had the nerve to try to charge me an extra $100 – for the gas!!! LOL I absolutely refused to pay a penny more than I was quoted (at this point didnt bother to ask for a discount) and have not rented a car since LOL

This sounds fantastic! How do you turn the car on though? I’ve never been brave enough to rent a car and always just suck it up and use all the public transport, but I would totally be willing to try this out.

Avis are by far my preferred rental car provider worldwide as they’re friendly, reliable (you know what you’re getting) and it’s fab they have airmiles with my preferred airline.I love the idea of extending your booking on their app so will have to download it! Awesome when companies co-create their apps with their customers who will use it too.

I'm a New York native who left my home to explore the world slowly and thoroughly. I’m just a little obsessed with photography, scuba diving, and reading guidebooks to countries I have no immediate plans to visit.